Colorado Drops Second Straight, 3-2 At Fresno State

Sunday, September 9

Fresno, Calif.

TBA

Colorado

1-3-0

Fresno State

2-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Colorado	1	1	2
Fresno State	1	2	3

September 09, 2001 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Colleen Reilly Krueger, Associate Director

FRESNO, Calif. - The University of Colorado soccer team (1-3) couldn't overcome back-to-back Fresno State (2-0) goals in the 47th and 48th minutes of play and dropped their second straight match, 3-2 in front of 947 spectators at Bulldog Stadium here Sunday.

Both teams were on the attack early as Fresno State took the first shot of the day just 50 seconds into the game forcing Colorado's Whitney Peterson to tip the attempt on goal over the crossbar. Just 3:06 into the opening stanza the Buffs' Jen Thais took the ball from Danielle Bickley, but her dead center shot on FSU's Mary-Tyler Wahl barely crossed the goal area.

Both teams would exchange near goals when CU's Peterson came out of the goal area to smother an FSU shot with 33:22 left in the half. Colorado responded with 24:43 left when Colorado's corner kick by Monique Gillaspie was perfectly laid to Jennifer Thais who passed to Danielle Bickley, whose shot was snuffed on the goal line by Wahl.

It would be Fresno that would convert the first attempt into a goal when Colorado's Peterson gave up a rebound on the left side of the goal area off a shot by Reyna Green. The rebound fell into the possession of Erin Sayegusa who passed it to Aimee Thompson for the one-timer between Buff defenders waiting at the posts with 22:47 left in the half.

The Buffs scored the equalizer with 4:37 left in the half when Kristin Robertson passed Lindsay Galas the ball from the left to the middle of the box and Galas put the ball past Wahl's left shoulder. The goal was Galas' first of the season, fourth of her career and the assist was Robertson's first of the 2001 campaign.

Colorado managed to close in on the first half statistics despite spending the most of the remainder of the half on its heels. Fresno had the advantage in shots (7-6) and shots on goal (6-4) and fouls (8-4) while both teams took three corner shots.

Fresno State took its second lead of the game just two minutes into the second half, when the Bulldogs' Angela Tafolla drew Peterson 15 yards out of the goal, beat Peterson and laid the ball into the goal just passed the left post for the go-ahead with 43:00 left in the game. One minute 44 seconds later Fresno built its lead to two when Barbara Dais put her first goal of the season passed a diving Peterson towards the left post. The back-to-back goals were the fasted by a Buff opponent in the early season and quickest since Nebraska scored a pair last year in 1 :25 in Lincoln.

Insult nearly became injury when Peterson collided with a Fresno left forward in front of the left post with 34:40 left in the game, but not before Fresno got off the cross which went passed the open Colorado goal before CU's Kendall Pata cleared it to the sideline. Timeout was called on the field as Peterson laid on her back, visibly shaken up by the altercation, but stayed in net for the goal.

The Buffs pulled within one with 31 :47 left on the clock when CU freshman Jennifer Thais, playing just hours away from her hometown of Mission Viejo, got the ball from Suzy Kiefer and with FSU defender Kristyn Kellogg on her heels put the ball past Wahl who had come out to challenge the ensuing shot on goal from six yards out. The score was Thais' first career goal.

Both teams failed to convert several offensive opportunities the remainder of the game. Colorado's last threat, coming with 1 :25 left, was a Danielle Bickley pass to Alyssa Burgess which hit the left post.

The Buffs return to Boulder for the first of a three-game homestand when they take on Denver on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 4 p.m. at the Pleasant View Soccer Complex. They will also host Maryland and Long Island Sept. 14 (4 p.m.) and 16 (1 p.m.), respectively.